Journalist admits son hit cyclist in highway accident

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Eduardo Aliverti, a well-known radio and television journalist, admitted today that Pablo García, the man driving a car that hit and killed a cyclist today along the Pan American highway, carrying the dead body on the hood of the car for 17 kilometres, was his son.

The gruesome and tragic accident occurred on Sunday, causing shock and uproar on social networks.

Aliverti cleared up the rumours by publishing a message directly on his Facebook page stating:

“Here I am, in one of the most painful moments of my life, due to occurrances that involve a part of my family and that have gone public over the last few hours.

“Pablo García is my son. All I can say is that my thoughts and those of my family are with those of the victim’s family. Now the situation lies in the hands of the justice system –as it stands today.

Early on Sunday morning, Reinaldo Rodas, a 53-year-old security guard, cycling on the Pan-American Highway was hit and killed by a Peugeot 504. However, the driver, instead of stopping or seeking medical assistance, allegedly drove a further 17 kilometres until reaching a toll booth in Tortuguitas, Buenos Aires province.

An attendant reportedly told him that he was “carrying a body on his car,” to which Pablo García, 28, is alleged to have responded: “Does that mean you’re going to charge me twice?”

García was arrested by police at the scene and taken to a nearby police station. However, despite charges of manslaughter, he was released on bail on Monday night.

The case was not given much coverage by the media until today, when pro-government radio journalist Eduardo Aliverti admitted on his Facebook said that García was his son.

The ensuing media response focused on further details of the horror and on Rodas’ family, including his 13-year-old son and his widow, who suffers from a disability.

According to the family,“nobody told us about the accident: neither from the toll booth, nor from the gated community, and certainly not the suspect,” adding that they had discovered the news “via the Internet.”

Reports stated that the victim, an employee of the Watchman security company and travelling to the Mapuche gated community where he worked, was embedded in the windscreen on the passenger’s side of the car, facing forward with his legs on the hood. “All of his blood was on the passenger’s seat,” said his wife in a television interview yesterday, who also said that “I now understand that the Argentine justice system does not work.”

“This man is a murderer, and he has to be used to killing,” said Ana Rodas, the victim’s sister, stating that “I don’t know how it is possible to carry a person for that distance and then later make a joke about it.”

It was reported that García had high levels of alcohol in his blood when arrested by the police.